Om this site you can explore the wealth of native plants in North America. Search for 90,610 native plants by scientific or common name, definition, invasive or choose a particular family of plants. A list of native plants in America. Native plants have sometimes adapted to very limited and unusual environments or very harsh climates. Some types of plants exist only within a very limited range (endemism) and others can live in diverse areas. Native plants form a part of a plant community, where several species have developed to support them. For example a plant exists because a certain animal pollinates it and that animal exists because it relies on the plant as a source of food. Some plants rely on natural conditions, for example wildfires. In North America a plant is often deemed native if it was present before the colonization. Recent research has found that insects depend heavily on native plants.

What is a native American plant?

Native plants grew in a America before European contact. America’s native plants evolved here over a very long time. And are the plants which the first Americans knew and depended on for their livelihood. These native plants have co-evolved with animals, fungi and microbes, to form a complex network of relationships. They are the foundation of our native American ecosystems.

Do we know which plants are native?

Specimens and seeds of new world plants were taken to Europe by early explorers. American plants were included in botanical studies of the whole world’s flora. The science of paleobotany allows scientists to compare fossils with modern plants to determine which plants are native.